Book 1: The Grail Knights
by Du Lac
Summary: Harry has a choice at the start of his first year. The consequences of that choice will be the beginning of an adventure no one could forsee. It turns out that the world doesn't just consist of humans and their daily lives, Voldemort is rising. Contains OCs, Good!Dursleys and more.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I own nothing, J.K. Rowling does and she does a far better job of maintaining the world she created than I do.**

**A/N Hi, I'm starting a Harry Potter story for those who still enjoy them as much as I do. I do this as a writing exercise mostly, I have no illusions about being some great writer but still I find it fun and I'd like to get better. Ahem...this story starts in year 1 and will chronicle Harry's rise among the weird the strange and the unfathomable. Also the Durleys are less neglectful in this and people might generally be more grey than usual. There are some differing elements in this story and I hope you'll enjoy it. Also I am desperatly looking for a beta as I do not english very well, at the very least accent wise. Which is why Hagrid speaks so jarringly normal.**

**With that let's get on with it.**

You're a...!

"You're a wizard Harry!" The huge figure standing inside the creaking hovel boomed. Harry blinked, feeling his glasses slide slightly down his nose. Now that he got a better look at the bushy bearded giant he realized the man didn't radiate any animosity towards him, rather a joyful expectancy.

He rose from behind the small overturned table and stepped past the Dursleys. "I'm a wizard?" He tried not to sound too hopeful.

"Get back here boy!" Uncle Vernon's hand reached for Harry's sleeve but he halted when the giant shot him a look. His face turned an eerie purple-red colour and his hand dropped back to his side. Harry looked between the two and he felt a sort of elation as he realized this was someone Vernon didn't have power over. He stepped towards the giant hesitantly, still guarded because when was the last time anything ever went right for Harry Potter?

The giant grinned and spread his arms. "You didn't get the letters Harry? You're old enough to go to Hogwarts now, everyone is looking forward to it." He scratched his bushy beard and coughed. "Well I say everyone…" he trailed off when he saw Harry's clueless look and shot an inquisitive look at the boy. "You...did get the letters didn't you? I mean you never signed them but Dumbledore just assumed the memories might be too much for you."

When Harry just stared at him, dumbfounded he looked past the boy at the cowering Dursleys. "You didn't tell him...did you?" Uncle Vernon, finding his...courage, pride or indignation at being treated as an inferior, jabbed a finger in the direction of the giant man. "You have no right!" he barked. "You left him on our doorstep for us to raise and I will not have him dabbling in…" here he chanced a glance at his shivering wife, her eyes firmly on the floor and her mouth slightly agape obviously trying to shut out anything what was happening at that moment. Vernon deflated slightly, his anger replaced by worry at his wife's condition. "We were to raise him...you lot never so much as lifted a finger!"

The strangely garbed giant reeled back as if slapped. "Well...I, that is...Dumbledore thought it better for him to grow up among family…" His voice halted slightly, his eyes turning towards the boy who looked so utterly lost in his too large clothes that hung off his thin frame. He smiled, his friendly eyes mirrored in the boy's beaten up spectacles. "You can come back to the wizarding world now Harry, you'll be treated as a hero! It's because of you we've had these peaceful years."

Vernon looked ready to say something but the giant gripped his strange looking umbrella and the large man fell back, bristling, next to his wife and son. Harry, who was still merely looking at the giant, overwhelmed by what the man was telling him was startled out of his reverie when he heard the low chiming of a bell. The giant's brow furrowed and he reached into his pocket, drawing out something that looked like a pocket watch with too many hands. It was rotating startlingly fast and Harry thought he could see his name on there, along with the names of the Dursleys and someone called Hagrid. He squinted as the giant cursed and read another name, fast approaching the hands that were together. "Marco." He mouthed.

Vernon's head rose sharply when he heard Harry say the name, again his mouth opened to say something but just then the giant, something in Harry's mind clicked and knew; Hagrid, whirled on the opened door and shouted "Stupefy!" There was the sound of clinking outside and smoke billowed into the shack. Loud coughing could be heard and someone stumbled into the shack.

Harry's eyes went wide, the figure was dressed like a knight straight out of a fairytale. He wore armour that looked, although dented, well-cared for and somehow managed to look slightly...familiar. Harry wondered why the thought had popped into his head, his scar burned for a second and suddenly he was looking at a painting of a man with a shock of red hair and a disarming smile wearing the same sort of armour.

He felt his legs give out beneath him but just as suddenly strong hands helped steady him, hands covered in mail gauntlets. His eyes stopped their spinning and he looked into the eyes of a young man, he seemed to be just out of his teens, with longish black hair tied in a ponytail. The man steadied him, then curled his hand into a fist and coughed as he turned to Hagrid. Harry could see him flash a grin. "You keep getting better and better Hagrid. Is Dumbledore still training you then?"

The giant, Hagrid, snorted and held out his umbrella threateningly. "You'll lay no hand on Harry!" He jabbed the umbrella in the other man's direction. Harry took a moment to study him he wasn't very big Harry realized, maybe just pushing six feet, but he somehow managed to look...tall. Maybe it was the armour. The man's brown eyes regarded the giant calmly and suddenly Harry realized why. Sure Hagrid had his magic umbrella but the strange newcomer had a large sword strapped to his back, coupled with a shield that seemed too heavy to lift. Broad he was as well, his relaxed stance somehow making him seem lanky where he was anything but. That was when the man half-turned his head to look at him and...winked and Harry, feeling slightly foolish for staring merely grinned back.

The armoured man held his hands up in a placating manner. "I've no wish to anger you Hagrid, I just came because the boy is old enough to take up his grandfather's blade now. But where are my manners…" He turned and for a moment Harry was certain that the man was going to talk to him but instead the man dropped to a knee in front of Uncle Vernon and bowed his head. "Grandmaster Dursley, it's...an honour to finally meet you. The Order is a darker place for you having left it." Harry blinked and looked at Uncle Vernon, who had squared his shoulders and looked a lot more broad than fat now and...old somehow like seeing the man kneeling in front of him had aged him years.

Vernon placed his hand on the young man's shoulders. "Rise Marco, or should I say Ser Marco now? I'll not have a du Lac kneel to me. You have your father's bearing and your mother's eyes." The young man flashed a grin and rose, his eyes on the eldest Dursley. "I'm glad to see time hasn't waned your honour Grandmaster." Vernon winced. "I rescinded that title the day I left." His eyes darted to aunt Petunia before returning to the knight in front of him. "Why did they send a du Lac to do recruitment? Couldn't one of the lesser knights have done?"

The knight shrugged. "There's not a lot of the old order left, the Morrighanan has weeded out a lot of the more...Grail minded of us. But I shouldn't bother you with this." He shook his head. "The truth is I got sent because they expected Dumbledore to send someone like Hagrid."Here he looked at the tall, silent giant. "You were never going to inform him of the fact that he has a choice, were you?" He said. Hagrid blushed to the roots of his beard and mumbled. "Dumbledore said they would have wanted it that way…" The knight nodded.

For the first time during the whole interaction Harry found his voice. "Ehm...I'm sorry, what's this all about why are you talking to Uncle Vernon that way, sir?"

The knight blinked and looked at Vernon who merely shrugged and said "I left everything behind, including that knowledge. I promised and a Dursley doesn't break his promise." His voice seemed to reverberate with some inner strength as he spoke the last part. The knight grinned again and turned to Harry, kneeling so he was of a height with the boy and looked into his eyes.

"Harry Potter, my name is Marco du Lac. Ser Marco du Lac, if the name doesn't ring a bell I'm afraid you'll be hearing a lot of boring stories about my ancestors if you decide to come with me. I'm here because I was sent by an Order within the Knights Templar, the Grail Knights to tell you that we seek to recruit you."

Harry blinked and Marco grinned. "You're a Templar Harry."


	2. Chapter 2

2 Months later:

Harry woke up in the Gryffindor dorm room, his head swimming as always before he truly woke up. He yawned and tried to recall the dream he'd had, with a start he realised it had been the same dream that had haunted him the past few weeks, the one where he'd made his decision to go with Hagrid and become a wizard instead of following the du Lac boy and becoming a templar.

He fell back on his mattress and sighed. Two months ago the thought of going with the hulking giant instead of the broad knight had seemed as clear as day. If you really thought about it though...Well at least he'd made quick friends here, he smiled as he looked over at the other bunk where Ron was snoring, mouth open as he dreamed about either eating cake or winning an important Quidditch match.

Harry could feel the guilt wash over him again as he remembered how Marco's face had fallen when Harry told him he'd be going with Hagrid. Vernon had cursed him and the mage's blood his father had brought into the family. This seemed to surprise du Lac and the young man had stepped between Harry and Vernon when the older man tried to take a swing at him. Hagrid had bellowed a laugh and lifted his strange umbrella, preparing to do something to Uncle Vernon. The du Lac boy had grabbed the umbrella's tip in a quick movement and all that happened was that his hand started smoking.

Marco du Lac had stayed quiet for a moment, looking between the two parties and sighing. He'd turned to Hagrid. "You'd better take him and go." With those words he turned back to the Dursleys but not before winking at Harry and grinning. "See you soon, Lord Potter." Hagrid had lifted him bodily on the strange motorcycle and off they went on their crazy adventure.

And crazy it had been, Harry decided meeting Draco in Daigon Alley and getting his wand. Meeting Ron and Hermione on the train that left from an unknown platform. Getting sorted, the voice of the Hat still resounded in his mind. "Hmmm, might be a fit for Slytherin." 'Please,' he'd begged the Hat with his mind, 'anywhere but Slytherin!' The hat harumphed a moment, telling him that some of the most ambitious and successful wizards had been in Slytherin. But after a moment of indecision it loudly proclaimed to have sorted Harry in "GRYFFINDOR!"

He remembered flying, his first time on a broom and grabbing Neville's rememberall out of the air. He remembered the Hufflepuff headgirl, Tonks she hated her first name, coming to talk to him a few times. The young woman had heard he'd been approached by the Templars and turned them down. She'd grinned at that and thanked him, as the Templars actively hunted Metamorphagi down in the previous centuries and had caused a lot of them to hide their abilities. She'd sadly stated she was one of the last ones alive. But then she brightened up and told Harry that there'd been a Templar in Hogsmeade ever since he'd come to school. Wizards had taken bets as to whom could get him to leave first. She'd not dared approach herself yet but apparently people had cast light hexes and curses on him to deter him from lurking in the open too much.

He'd asked her why the Templar was in Hogsmeade at all. She'd chuckled and brushed her pink hair behind her ear. "Why he's obviously come to try and change your mind after du Lac failed so horribly." This seemed to give her even greater merriment. When Hermione had asked why she'd explained that the du Lac's traced their line directly to one of the Grail Knights. And the Grail Knights had been the fiercest fighters of wizards in general and Methamorphagi in particular. It tickled her pink, here she turned her hair and skin the brightest possible shade of pink she could think of, that one of the greats hadn't been able to snatch the-boy-who-lived from his rightful path.

The-boy-who-lived. That's who he was now. Everywhere young witches and wizards looked at him with big round eyes. He heard the whispers and felt them bouncing around in his brain, "There's the boy who defeated Voldemort when he was just a baby!" And the whispers hurt, just like the silent adoration from Ron's side hurt. These people looked at him as some sort of savior when he hadn't the faintest what he could have done to deserve that kind of praise.

At least he had Hermione. She'd read up on him, of course she read up on everything, but that didn't seem to make him any bigger in her eyes. She treated him as friend, they'd row and make up and talk all the way into the night. It had been crazy. Amazing to have a real friend. Ron was great as well, but somehow Hermione was on his mind the most.

Suddenly he was jerked truly awake by the sound of Headmaster Dumbledore's voice resounding through the whole of Hogwart's. "All students are hereby cordially ordered to go to the Great Hall and prepare for an announcement." Harry shot out of bed and into his robes as next to him Ron shot awake and groaned about wanting just a few more minutes. He and Ron walked into the Common Room to meet Hermione and together they headed to the Great Hall.

Once there and in their seats they looked at the head table where all teachers were sat. Snape, as always, looked like he'd swallowed a lemon but for some reason Professors McGonagall seemed to be sharing his distaste for whatever was going to happen. Harry could feel the lump start to form in his throat. Something was definitely up.

That's when Dumbledore stood up and raised his hands in the air, calling for silence. The whole room quieted, even the rebellious Twins were quiet. Dumbledore took a bite of a peach that was laid out on his plate and swallowed it with great care, looking at it studiously. "Professor Binns has been retired." he said at length.

The whole of the Great Hall erupted in cheers as Dumbledore kept talking and Harry strained to hear him. "Offering an open palm...New paths to be walked...Great personal harm…" were the only bits of information he managed to snatch up. Casting a glance at Hermione next to him showed him she fared no better. That's when his eyes fell on the Hufflepuff table, Tonks had disappeared and in her place was someone as white as a sheet, with a shock of white hair and eyes of blazing fire. She was turned to the doors of the Great Hall. Harry followed her gaze in the silencing room.

Stood between the doors, holding them open and looking as if he's swam the great lake towards Hogwarts was a man in a leather cape. He stepped into the silence of the Great Hall with his head held high, the only sound was the clinking of his sword against his belt. Harry realized with a start who the man was, he was just wearing a lot less armour.

Dumbledore cleared his throat. "My dear students, faculty members, meet your new History of Magic teacher...Marco du Lac."


End file.
